I'm afraid mine is the boring answer. I had 5 years of Latin at grammar school back in the late fifties/early sixties. I came back to it a few years ago. The strange thing is that all the declensions and conjugations are still there in the memory, but much of the vocab has gone.

I have found that the best way to bring it all back is to read, read, read! I hunt the second hand book shops for easy readers, like Ritchies 'Fabulae Faciles' - available free on Textkit!

My best advice is make sure of the grammar and then soak up the vocab by reading.

What drove me to learn Latin? Two things, I guess; the first is a strong desire for knowledge, and the second is a strong love of languages and words. Combine the two, and studying Latin makes sense. (As much as anything i do makes sense.)

As far as my method goes...I doubt any one on Textkit will recommend it (I don't recommend it myself). I tend to take an on-again-off-again approach, studying each lesson half a dozen times, reading back over parts I've already studied, copying my lessons word-for-word, spending days walking around with vocabulary cards in my pockets, then I'll drop all my studies for a week or two, come back a week later, pick up my book, go back a few lessons and start again. As I said, I definitely don't reccommend it. But, it does seem to work for me. That's pretty much the way I learned French, that and just reading, whether I could understand the words or not.

Although I've always been interested in latin, I've had zero exposure to it, except an uncle of mine that would always try to impress me with some sentences (he is fluent in latin, though, gotta give him that).

Anyway, I am now homeschooling, and my 6yo has expressed an interest in latin. Since his main subjects are all going well, and we are doing Ancient History this year, why not follow his wish?

He's getting Prima Latina, and I got Wheelock for myself. I might as well seize the opportunity too.

(yup, we're both total beginners)

Last edited by Cleo on Wed Dec 31, 2003 4:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

It's so fun that you are doing it together! I have seen other young homeschooling families do the same thing and the kids LOVED it, even the youngest, who was 5 when they started. kudos!

Latin for me was the natural next step after learning greek (koine) in college. Also, I had a teacher when I was young who forced us to memorize a zillion greek and latin roots of words so that we could more easily understand new vocabulary and the language in general.

At first it may be fun, but dedication will it surpass the inevitable boredom at times? Imagine a child of 6 trying to memorize the conjugation of ire...

they don't necessarily need to. when the child is that young you can take things slowly, without bombarding them with conjugations. they can learn vocabulary first, and ease into the details of grammar through reading and immersion. it's not as though he has to make it through a textbook in a given time like older students do. :)

klewlis wrote:they don't necessarily need to. when the child is that young you can take things slowly, without bombarding them with conjugations. they can learn vocabulary first, and ease into the details of grammar through reading and immersion. it's not as though he has to make it through a textbook in a given time like older students do.

That's pretty much the plan. For him, vocabulary first and foremost. Prima Latina has 25 lessons, for 125 words. Not too demanding. Could be done in 25 days, or a whole school year, depending on the child. We're aiming to finish Prima Latina for next september. There's just a tiny bit of grammar in it.

Then he "graduates" to a bit of grammar, which he does at the same time as French grammar. Comparing rules and seeing where the French grammar comes from should be fun.

For my child (and myself) Latin is a fun subject, not one with a deadline and an exam at the end. Whatever he learns, it will be that much more than he would have learnt in school.

Episcopus wrote:At first it may be fun, but dedication will it surpass the inevitable boredom at times? Imagine a child of 6 trying to memorize the conjugation of ire...

Knowing that French is our main language, and there's plenty of conjugation in French to start with, can it be really that different?? Note, I have no real idea of what I'm getting myself into, but at least we're doing it freely. It *does* come from him. I was planning on introducing Latin in grade 3 or 4. Not 1!

I am interested in learning other cultures and languages and I read that latin is a great language to start with. I actually started with mandarin chinese but quickly decided another route would be more beneficial. I chose french and find it very interesting and fun. Then I came across some internet classes for latin and decided to look into online resources. I hope I can learn somethings from here and then contribute something of my own.

As to how I learned Latin(or not ), well it's a boring story. I go to a Latin school . Latin is a compulsory main subject (4 or 5 hours a week) from age 10/11 - 15/16. Then you can drop it, take it as a minor or major. I chose to continue doing Latin, because all I need for German "Großes Latinum" is a D and I thought that wouldn't be too hard to achieve.

My mother took French in school for credit. I always thought it was funny, because at the time she was in high school, she was only 5-6 years away from the time when she spoke nothing but French.

Now and again, a Latin phrase, usually related to Catholicism, will surface to her mind, but even though she took Latin, she doesn't remember much of it. (Although I imagine if I become fluent, and my sister becomes fluent, and we start talking in Latin, enough of it will surface that she can join us from time to time, and probably ultimately remember most of it.)

I took Latin for several years when I was in high school, but that's practically Ancient History now! When reading Umberto Eco's "Name of the Rose" I found I couldn't remember much Latin at all, which irritated me so much I started doing some research on the Net, firstly finding Prof. Jones's very good lessons (which were on the Daily Telegraph site then) and then Textkit. Once I got started there was no stopping me and I am now doing a BA in Classical Sudies by correspondence from Uni. of New England in Armidale (in Australia). I am flying through the course at the rate of 1 subject per semester (1 year down, only about 9 to go!!!) but as time goes on I might even tackle 2 subjects per semester (wow!!)